My husband’s lyme has been worse since the J&J Covid vax. It was particularly so in the two months from to a syncope event. The fall caused brain bleed and multiple facial fractures. His Holter monitor documented 3 episodes of junctional rhythm associated with dizziness/lightheadedness.
CDC and IDSA guidelines emphasize that patients with arrhythmias or syncope in this context should be admitted for monitoring and started on IV antibiotics, as conduction can deteriorate rapidly into high-grade block. But his doctor doesn’t think he has lyme carditis because the Echo was okay (even though guidelines say echo can look fine in lyme carditis), and he says that lyme carditis only exists in early lyme. (I suspect it may have only looked at in early lyme because mainstream medicine still barely acknowledges the existence of chronic lyme.)
Rather than have a bad experience with a non-LLMD cardiologist, I’m hoping to find someone in the IMA network to consult with that has experience in this. On the one hand is “do nothing” and on the other is pretty extreme treatment with in-hospital IV antibiotics. Maybe there’s something in the middle?
(I shouldn’t say do nothing because the doc wants him to try midodrine or florinef to increase blood pressure.)
I know they deal with both SARS-2 vaccine injury and lyme disease. They are in San Francisco, CA.
As far as the *“lyme carditis only exists in early lyme” *I asked Copilot to search for cases and what you are observing sounds plausible. I think it would be a poor decision to rule it out given that it is not unheard of:
2024 – American Journal of Case Reports
A 52-year-old woman presented with new-onset heart failure, bradycardia, and T-wave abnormalities during winter—months after tick season. She did not recall a recent tick bite. Serology showed positive Lyme IgM and IgG. Her presentation was atypical for early disseminated Lyme disease, suggesting possible late cardiac involvement.
2020 – Thoracic Key (Case Compilation)
An 18-year-old male developed progressive AV block (from second-degree to complete heart block) approximately one month after an insect bite. He had no erythema migrans rash and experienced a delayed diagnosis. He required a temporary pacemaker and recovered with intravenous ceftriaxone.
2020 – Thoracic Key (Second Case)
A 19-year-old male presented with chest pain and conduction abnormalities. He did not recall a clear tick exposure. The case was interpreted as possible subclinical earlier infection with late cardiac manifestation.
Animal and Tissue Studies
Murine models and post-treatment tissue analyses have demonstrated that Borrelia burgdorferi DNA and viable organisms can persist in cardiac tissue for months after infection. These findings support the possibility of long-term residence in heart tissue, even after antibiotic therapy.
*"In my opinion and in my experience in treating over ten thousand young people with Lyme **disease, decisions on duration of treatment in many cases where there is central nervous system **involvement and chronic persistent infection, are best determined by clinical response, as would **be the case with any other illness or infectious disease and not by any arbitrary limit of days **given. **There is very ample documentation in the peer reviewed medical literature of the ability of ******the Lyme organism to survive intensive and prolonged antibiotic treatment, including intravenous ******antibiotics. **A recent report in Infection by Steven Phillips, et al. (1998 Nov-Dec 26 (6): 364-367) **indicates that Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes can be reliably cultured from the blood of patients **with Lyme disease, even from those previously aggressively treated with antibiotics. In my **experience, patients with chronic central nervous system infection can benefit from many months **of intravenous antibiotic treatment. Although such durations of treatment are controversial within **the medical community, at the 1991 NIH State-of-the-Art Conference on Lyme disease, there was **general agreement that optimal regimens of antibiotic therapy for central nervous system Lyme **disease remained to be defined. Thus, it is not sustainable to adopt a doctrinaire position about *what constitutes “sufficient” therapy in individual cases."
Thanks, I hadn’t seen the new lyme hub, although I know they have a new lyme doc. Dr Gordon is an amazing doctor he was my mold doc for years, and actually his office treated my husband for lyme with antibiotics originally, 10 years ago.
But… did you have in mine something specific about my post? Are you saying the bacteria isn’t always killed by antibiotics so could cause lyme carditis? Or just showing me that website?
Borrelia burgdorferi has an affinity for nervous tissue including the Sinoatrial Node, Atrioventricular Node and Bundle of Hiss. Odd effects from the brain through the Vagus Nerve arcs make heart activity and vascular phenomena just about normal for advanced Lyme Disease.. The heart muscle may be fine, which is cold comfort against irregularities that come out of nowhere. That is especially so when the Splanchnic vessels dilate out of control mimicking massive blood loss and kissing the pavement (Orthostatic hypotension, regardless of standing, sitting or reclining).
Expect relapse after IV Rocephin or Doxycycline some 60 - 90 days after discontinuance. Be careful to utilize a patient-preference for an NSAID and Antihistamine before each of the early infusions to mitigate the Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction is disturbing and can be disabling or fatal. A bolus of antibiotic (IV-Push or flushing the line will be violent and can precipitate cardiopulmonary collapse early in the series of infusions. Slow infusion, titrated against level of distress (fever, shakes, pain tolerance, scattered heart rate and blood pressure, applies both the the Antibiotic IV bag contents and, don’t miss this one, the slow saline purge of the PIC line.
Consider being labeled an alcoholic. That achieves access to unlimited prescriptions of Disulfiram at the cost of abstinence, but the benefits are profound. It is like waking up, becoming a sentient being again, and relieved of the inflammatory manifestations of Lyme Disease. Remissions tend to last until tick-bitten again. Seven to ten days of 2 grams daily of Rocephin does as well at taking the edge off a fulminating Lyme infection as a month on Doxycycline IV followed by 10 weeks on Rocephin. The same respite of 60 - 90 days degrades to relapse without reinfection.
Study up on protocols to protect oneself from the foibles of the Standards of Medical Practice. The ISDA is founded in Eugenics.
Hi! Yes I have a 2 month homeopathic protocol. Depending on pre-existing conditions there may be a need for pre-protocol regime, before the Lyme protocol.
Thanks very much for this note dyavo09. Much obliged